Welcome to Winding Pathways
Winding Pathways encourages you to create a wonderous yard, whether that yard is an expansive acreage, a suburban lot or a condominium balcony. Go outside and play!
Join our email list
Sign up for FREE Winding Pathways emails (approximately weekly).
Creeping Charlie and Other Ground Covers
Years ago, a homeowner visited a garden store and bought plugs of a plant commercially called ground ivy, but most folks today call it Creeping Charlie. In many ways this exotic plant was an ideal ground cover. It’s tough, easy to transport and plant, adaptable to a...
Foiling Ticks!
Creepy Crawlers Even before Lyme disease created a serious tick-borne health hazard no one wanted ticks crawling on them. We sure don’t want them at Winding Pathways and because our yard has tall grass, shrubs, and a woodland we have tick habitat. A few years ago,...
Goats of Wonderland
A Visit to Cheshire Moon Farm Fans of Alice and Wonderland know the famous Cheshire Cat grin. That feline gave its name to a happy place called Cheshire Moon Farm in rural Atkins, Iowa. Winding Pathways visited in late April and left smiling. The farm is perched on...
Bird Feeder Adaptations
Bruce Frana, a Winding Pathways visitor, saw one of our blogs on our "squirrel proof" feeder and how we discourage squirrels from gobbling up sunflower seeds we put out for birds. He crafted a similar but much more attractive version that's in his yard. Our...
Food In Alaska
Food in Alaska is just plain fun! The Last Frontier state has one of the most ethnically diverse area codes in the country. English, Irish, Scottish, German, French, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Polish, Filipino, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan, African Americans, Laotians,...
Baby Chicks Grow Up – Part Two
Now a couple of months old, the quartet of chicks is exploring farther afield. After the cold and snowy introduction to the outside world in late March, they readily follow Mama Hen outside. Mama protects them inside from the other hens by cornering the chicks and...
Texas Drawl in Alaska
You know Steve Brown is from Texas right away. Vernon, Texas, to be exact. Home of the Red River Valley Museum, that features native sons trombonist and singer, Jack Teagarden and singer-songwriter, Roy Orbison. Brown’s drawl and easy manner draw you in. But, there...
Chickens Up North
It may seem odd for a bird that evolved in tropical Southeast Asia to thrive up in the frigid north but increasing numbers of people are enjoying the benefits of backyard chickens in Canada, Maine, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, in Northern Minnesota, and even Alaska....
Baby Chicks Grow Up
We've had fun allowing the California White to brood and then raise four chicks we placed under her one night. She's been an attentive Mama showing the chicks how to eat, accept new foods, and forage outside in the snow. Each evening she tucks them into her...
Geese Families
“Loose as a goose” is an apt expression. Many people dislike Canada Geese for their habit of depositing droppings on trails and lawns. Despite their mess geese are intriguing birds, especially if they are carefully observed. We enjoy watching them all year and love...
Hawk Rescue!
"Something Going On in that Tree" Guest Blog by Wahneta Dimmer Todd and I sat at the breakfast table - coffee for me and a coca cola for him - looking out the sliding glass doors at the backyard and out into the park beyond. As he half read the newspaper Todd said,...
March Magic
Don’t Miss March’s Launch of Spring “If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy it will in the end not produce food either,” Joseph Wood Krutch. Too many people miss March’s majesty by staying indoors. After all it’s usually too warm to enjoy cross...
Lake Labyrinth Metaphor
The lyrics to Enya's song, "Pilgrim" often roamed through my mind this winter as I walked the Phoenix Harmony Labyrinth in cold and warmth, snow and rain, trudged through deepening snow and slid over the icy path all in a quest to reach Center. Center - a...
Managing Our Broody Hen
We were surprised when one of our California White hens started acting strangely. She puffed up her feathers, clucked in an unusual tone, and spent hours patiently sitting in a nest box. But. we know she’s not sick. She’s broody and wants to be a mom. We are...
Moles In Winter
Moles in winter? You bet! We were amused and amazed to look out our den window and see a heaped-up line of topsoil on top of several stepping stones. Even in Winter, our moles are active! Many people hate moles because their tunneling raises mini ridges in the lawn...
TURNING FOOD WASTE INTO BACKYARD GOLD
Americans Waste Food! We were astounded to read a news story stating that 20% of Iowa’s trash is food waste. That’s about 556,000 tons of food tossed out by our state’s people, and Iowan’s aren’t unusual. Americans everywhere discard food into the trash or grind it...